By Teresa Rivas

Shares of Infoblox (BLOX) were recovering after last night’s tumble, following its better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and light third-quarter guidance.

Analysts have begun weighting in on the quarter. Count Citigroup’s David Jeremy in the Hold camp: He sees near term issues, including more complex product sales and poor allocation of investments as revenue headwinds.

Nomura’s Alex Henderson writes that the stock is likely a Buy at current levels, but only for the very patient investor. He writes that the main takeaway is Infoblox’s re-evaluation of the sales process, and that it will take most of 2014 for the company to regain its 20% growth.

Pacific Crest’s Brent Bracelin also thinks that the stock is a Buy for risk-tolerant investors (but he actually has that rating on the stock, unlike Henderson’s Hold). He sees close to 50% upside for the stock, as a conservative outlook de-risks Infoblox’s reliance on large deals for the next six months, creating a favorable risk/reward.

William Blair analyst Jason Ader was more optimistic writing that management is taking the proper steps to correct the issue—the company reiterated its full year guidance—and that he doesn’t see demand or competition as a factor in the miss. Rather, more conservative guidance makes sense for a product “that must be sold rather than bought, requiring a tougher and longer sale and a consistent high level of execution that leaves little margin for error.”

JMP Research’s Erik Suppiger is another bull, writing that it is “early enough in its development that the company can correct its execution issues and return to growth rates more consistent with the market’s growth of at least 20-25%.”

UniPixel (UNXL) is still having a difficult morning, down more than 7% at recent check after its top-line disappointment last night. Cowen & Co.’s Robert Stone maintained a Market Perform rating on the stock, with this summary: The Q4:13 loss was 43% wider than St. on 99% lower revenue. Expected equipment has arrived, commissioning is underway. However, commercial shipments are not expected until H2, after unspecified Q2 enhancements to both printing and plating processes. R&D continues on optimal substrate/ink pairings. Cash appears adequate. We cut estimates on lower visibility.”

Autodesk (ADSK) was still rising early Thursday after its rosy fourth-quarter earnings report, and analysts are weighing in. MKM Partners’ Israel Hernandez writes that it’s time to take profits after last night’s pop, as its recent rally and valuation have gotten ahead of fundamentals, in his view.

Cowen & Co.’s Robyn Nentwig also puts the company at Hold, but noted that management reiterated its long-term goals, and as a measure of confidence provided full-year billings guidance for the first time.

Canaccord’s Richard Davis thinks it’s a wait-and-see story too: “If investors react to this transition as they have with Adobe (ADBE), the stock will work. However, if the underlying fundamentals of the business do not change, Autodesk shares will eventually behave like EDA stocks, which similarly went to subscription, but underlying growth remained sluggish.”

Elsewhere, Berstein’s Mark Newman has a note out about Samsung Electronics’ (005930.KS) unveiling of the Galaxy 5S and new smartwatches: He’s happy with the new products, which he believes finally focuses more on design and users’ actual needs, and could even be considered ‘cool’:

On the S5, Samsung finally replaced their awful plastic backing with a sexy leather back that comes in various colors. Useful additions to the S5 include: water and dust resistant, ultra-power saving mode, unique and powerful camera, kids mode, finger print scanner for security entrance, heart rate sensor, and faster connectivity with its download booster.

On the Gear smartwatches, we particularly liked the Gear Fitness which is a small and sleek wristband that interacts with your phone for notifications etc. The Gear 2 had many improvements too, including losing some weight and bulk and having enough local NAND storage to act as a standalone MP3 player when you want to run without your phone. Gear products now work with 17 Galaxy handsets (basically all the mainstream ones are covered now).

Qualcomm (QCOM) got a vote of confidence by Nomura analyst Romit Shah, who reiterated a Buy rating and $85 price target on the stock: “Qualcomm shares are near a 10-year high, but valuation, in our opinion, remains depressed at 13x 2015 EPS. The market appears singularly focused on the opportunity in China (or lack thereof) and underestimating rising 3G penetration rates in other emerging markets that are driving the royalty business (QTL). We estimate that QTL accounted for 67% of net income (including stock comp) in 2013. Higher 3G adoption in the emerging markets drove QTL EPS from $2.34 in 2012 to $2.70 in 2013. We expect this trend to continue with 3G attach rates in the developing regions increasing to 31% in 2014 and 39% in 2015. Thus far, Qualcomm has not benefitted from smartphone adoption in China. However, the ramp of TD-LTE devices should drive meaningful royalty revenue.”

BMO’s Keith Bachman has a note out saying a sum-of-the-parts analysis of EMC (EMC) suggests the stock should warrant a higher valuation (leading to his $29 price target): “The security market remains robust. Whereas in past years users have spoken about concerns with perpetrators from China, including the Chinese government, users and vendors at this year’s event voiced concerns about protection from the US government, including the NSA, in addition to China. We think RSA is well positioned, as RSA continues to add to its product capabilities, and we think should be able to grow by 5%-10% over the next few years.”

About Tech Trader Daily

Tech Trader Daily is a blog on technology investing written by Barron’s veteran Tiernan Ray. The blog provides news, analysis and original reporting on events important to investors in software, hardware, the Internet, telecommunications and related fields. Comments and tips can be sent to: techtraderdaily@barrons.com.